Prajwal Revanna wealth case: SC sets aside HC order dismissing election petition

New Delhi: Dismissing a petition against the election of Janata Dal-Seular’s Prajwal Revanna from the Hassan Lok Sabha constituency, the Supreme Court has now allowed an appeal against the Karnataka High Court order.

The high court, in an order passed on January 31, 2020, had junked the plea filed by G Devarajegowda, a voter from Hassan, on technical grounds stating that he has not complied with a mandatory procedure prescribed in law while filing the petition against the legality of election of a returned candidate.

On Tuesday, a bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and M. M. Sundresh allowed the appeal filed by Devarajegowda and set aside the order passed by the high court. Devarajegowda moved the top court challenging the high court in February 2020. He was represented by senior advocate Pramila Nesargi in the top court.

The plea, filed through advocate Balaji Srinivasan, said: “The court below has not considered that by dismissing an election petition on mere procedural grounds, it is running the risk of having a representative in the Parliament who has not got the maximum number of valid votes.”

The plea said that the petitioner also challenged the election of Revanna based on various corrupt practices, such as bribery committed by him which have been recognised under various sections of Representation of People Act.

The high court noted that the petitioner had failed to comply with the Section 81(3) of the Act, as he had not attested annexures appended to the petition. It further added that the court cannot rely on non-attested annexures, while framing issues and hence cannot proceed further as Section 86 mandates that the court dismiss a petition that does not comply with the provisions of the Section 81 of the Act.

On December 13, last year, the Supreme Court had also set aside a Karnataka High Court order, which dismissed an election petition by BJP leader A. Manju at threshold on hyper-technical ground against Revanna.

The top court had then said: “The appellant (Manju) states the case clearly and in no uncertain terms with supporting material in the election petition. Whether the violation is made out by respondent no 1 (Revanna) or not would be a matter of trial but certainly not a matter to be shut out at the threshold.”

Revanna, grandson of ex-Prime Minister and JD-S supremo H.D. Devegowda, was accused of resorting to corrupt practices by allegedly not disclosing his complete assets in his poll affidavit. The high court had termed Manju’s plea as “not maintainable”, as it was filed without an affidavit, which made it incomplete.

Revanna was declared the winner with 6,76,606 votes, while Manju was at second place with 5,35,282 votes.

(With inputs from IANS)